COG Considers: Rough Start For 343 But Hiccups Expected
Halo Insiders all over the world geared up this morning for the long-awaited first technical preview of Halo Infinite, only to be met by long hours of wait, with a crashed Halo Waypoint and an empty email inbox.
The preview was promised to launch on July 29th around 12 pm PT. The problem is, in order to download the early build of the game the players had to get their codes either on the Halo Waypoint website or through an email.
The website crashed around the time the preview was set to start, and the emails were nowhere to be found.
The official Halo Waypoint site is failing to load for many people because of how many people are checking it.
No codes have been sent out yet.
— Halo Infinite News (@DexertoHalo) July 29, 2021
Streamers either delayed their streams such as Greenskull or just started the stream to chat up with the audience or play Halo MCC thinking the wait wouldn’t be long such as Ubernick and Naded.
Brian Jarrard, Community Director at 343, took to Twitter to remind people that this is only a technical preview, the first one of its scale and that technical issues are to be expected.
He tried to calm expectations, and reassure the players that the issues are actively being worked on.
“As we are all eager and increasingly impatient, just a friendly PSA this is a technical test at a scale unlike anything we’ve done to date. Driven by production. Not a game launch. Things are proceeding but there are many steps to navigate,” Brian Jarrard said. “I worry that folks who aren’t able to handle the unpredictability of this release timing and who are getting outright angry, already have the wrong expectations going into a technical preview. There will be hiccups.”
While Halo Insiders’ frustration is understandable, given the long wait to try out the new game after 6 years since the last release of a Halo FPS title. It’s also important to remember that 343 is releasing this preview as a courtesy to hard-core Halo fans, for them to try out the game earlier than anyone else, and be a part of its development in a way. This in no way should be received as an official launch for a fully ready game, as it is NOT even a beta.
We are proceeding with a full global server re-deploy as part of this fix, which will take time. As soon as we get USWest online we can start prelim testing there in parallel. Team is working nonstop, as fast as they can. Our "afternoon" PT target is pushing into "evening." https://t.co/XHksLK47xN
— Brian Jarrard (@ske7ch) July 29, 2021
The story is still developing, and the preview will stay available all the way through Monday morning once it launches, so please be patient with the 343 team, you’ll have more than enough time to try everything out. Developing games is never easy, and a technical preview is just that, a technical preview.
For more info regarding what this build contains, and what to expect once it launches, please check out our detailed article Right Here.
The full game releases this Holiday season, and launches on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Xbox Gamepass.
Thank you for keeping it locked on COGconnected.